About two weeks ago now, I found myself unexpectedly in tears. I hadn’t quite realized, but I was standing on a Communion line behind Thomas Peters. Thomas is a young man who has worked at the National Organization for Marriage and written on occasion for National Review Online. One morning, shortly after the Supreme Court rulings on marriage this spring, someone came into my office to ask and announce: Do you know Thomas Peters? He’s excellent! She had just heard... Read more
Over on National Review Online, I comment a little on the election of a new president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Asked to comment on the election of Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, Catholic Speaker of the House John Boehner said in a statement: American Catholics are grateful to the bishops for reminding us of our obligation use the blessings we have as Americans to humbly serve others, particularly those throughout the world who are suffering. For years Americans... Read more
Feeling overwhelmed? Can’t find up from down? Working to pay your taxes, tuition, with no time to breathe? Is being able to receive packages from Amazon.com on Sunday really what you need in your life? Aside from the fact it’s probably smart business for Amazon, and that it gives the postal service more of a reason to be, the introduction of more stuff, more exuses to be online shopping Saturday simply adds to the noise and the chaos of our... Read more
I’m not the only one humming “For All The Saints” today. Msgr. Charles Pope blogs about it as “[o]ne of the greatest English hymns ever written.” He writes: It is a wide and sweeping vision of the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant. It’s imagery is regal and joyful, it’s poetry majestic and masterful. A vivid picture is painted in the mind as the wondrous words move by. If you ask me it is a masterpiece. He beat me, because... Read more
“Some forms of evil are so profound that they have to be hacked to pieces,” Fr. Robert Barron says in a discussion of violence in the Bible. This video is more than worth 11 minutes of your time — to become more familiar with and better understand allegories of the spiritual struggle in the Old Testament and “the ways we should fight evil all the way down” as we strive to live holiness where we find ourselves. Often we miss... Read more
Pope Francis delivered his first address in English Friday. Listen here. It is quite moving to hear a holy father in your native tongue. Even as he said what he says! He brings it back to the his first Angelus message again and again: Never tire of asking for God’s forgiveness. He’s going to get us to the Sacrament of Reconciliation yet! In a video to a conference in the Philippines, he said: I hope you would experience again the... Read more
Dominican Father Andrew Hofer opened the House one day this week (while we were still in shutdown mode) and it’s surely a prayer for legislating, but one for every day: We have been wrong, and we have sinned. Give us all a share of your wisdom and your mercy. Enlighten us so that we can turn from our error and live by the power of your truth. Strengthened by you, may we stand united in necessary matters, acknowledge liberty in... Read more
Mercy and sacrifice. Prayer. Trust. How do we trust? Go to God. Let the Holy Spirit guide. Let Mary lead us deeper into knowing her Son. Be not afraid to let God be a real, transforming part of your life. Christ must be the center of our lives, all the time. Have you been reading the papal tweets? It seems so long ago now that I stood and watched Pope Benedict’s first tweet live from Rome. (I called him the... Read more
Do you want to be a more effective Catholic communicator? At home, at work, at the bar, on the train? We are all called to evangelize, and we are not left alone in figuring out how. Catholic Voices USA is a project you’ve probably heard me talk about before in some shape or form. If you’re in the Washington, D.C., area, we’re currently taking applications for a November communications workshop being held at the Catholic Information Center. Scot Landry explains... Read more
In his Angelus address Sunday, Pope Francis mentioned a Italian young man who has been beatified this weekend, holding him up as a source of inspiration, a model for youth and the Christian life. Rolando Rivi was martyred in 1945 at 14. A seminarian, he refused to take off his cassock, a sign of his identity as one called to the priesthood. “He knew where he had to go… knew the love of Jesus in his heart, and gave his... Read more
Kathryn Lopez
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In